Salina, NY -- If you’ve ever had the flow of water stop while you were washing the car or watering the garden because the hose got caught under a tire or kinked on a corner or was just too twisted, you know the frustration Jay Bernhardt felt.

But Jay Bernhardt was in the position to do something about it.

He owns JGB Enterprises, a hose supplier in Salina. After three years of engineering and testing – including a year’s research with Syracuse University - Bernhardt’s company introduced what it says is a “kink-free” hose.

JGB Enterprises calls the new product “The Perfect Garden Hose” and started selling under the “Tuff-Guard” brand. In the first half of this year, JGB sold 20,000 of them, said James Thayer, who handles business development at JGB.

The hose was developed at JGB and is marketed and distributed by the Salina company. The company applied for a patent on the product and put in for copyright protection on the Tuff-Guard brand name as well as “The Perfect Garden Hose,” said Thayer.

The hose itself is made elsewhere in the United States, said Executive Vice President Stephon Starrantino.

The hose features a “double helix” design that lets it keep water flowing, even when bent in half or knotted up, Starrantino said. In a company video, a demonstrator ties the hose up in three knots but the water flows still.

The fittings at the end of the hose are different as well. The inner dimensions are the same as those hose itself, allowing more water to flow. It weighs less than a conventional hose as well, said Starrantino.

The Tuff-Guard brand is the company’s first step into the consumer market, Thayer said.